Naples

So despite everything I've heard about Naples, I found it to be really enjoyable. Although, things in general were pretty dirty. Everything moves at an extremely fast pace, yet it's really laid back. Also, it seems like there are pretty much no traffic laws that anyone pays attention to. In order to cross the street you need to just start walking at a steady pace and face straight ahead, it's too scary if you look at the traffic and you'll be tempted to stop or run. The cars don't stop or slow down for you, they just alter course a bit. That's why you walk at a steady pace. If you don't, the drivers can't predict where you'll be. Traffic in Rome is similar, but not as extreme. Also, the people are really friendly. Not many tourists go to Naples, so the few who do are a novelty to them. Very few people knew much English, so the little Italian I was able to learn before the trip was extremely handy. It wasn't perfect, but stringing together some key words and phrases along with hand gestures got me along surprisingly well.

My first day I arrived from Florence and checked in pretty early. I ran into two really nice Canadians (all of the Canadians I've met have been super nice) who were finishing lunch, they offered my some of their huge bag of olives they bought for 1eu. I've never really liked olives until I ate one of these. They had a sweet taste with the consistency of a small peach. Through the rest of my time in Naples most of my food came from small fruit and bread stands which were everywhere. I ended up eating two or three bags of these olives (probably around one pound each) by myself, I just carried them around and snacked on them everywhere I went.

After lunch I decided to go try to visit Herculanium, which was supposedly about 1km from where I was staying. I headed out on foot and found plenty of signs with arrows, but couldn't locate it. I gave up and started following signs for some sort of Vesuvius archeological museum. After a while, those signs disappeared too. (Italians seem to have issues labeling things, most things just aren't labeled, like store hours, streets, prices, etc., I think they just make them up as they go) Before I go any further, let me just say that I was feeling kind of stupid and really eager to do something from being on the train so long that day. Eventually I came to a sign for the museum pointing the way I had just came from. Frustrated, I decided to just climb Vesuvius, so I started heading up hill. A little over three hours later, I came to the area where the busses drop people off, about 20-30 minutes from the crater rim. I walked up to the gate to find out that it was closed. It closed at 5:00, I got there around 6:00. Disappointed, I took in the views for a while and started the long walk back. Luckily, some nice Norwegians with a rental car stopped and offered me a ride down, which I gladly accepted. Needless to say, I slept well that night.

The next day it was off to Pompeii which was really cool. Pompeii was absolutely huge, it probably took 20-30 minutes just to hike from one end to the other. Despite the people hustling you to take their tour, I got an audio guide so I could move at my own pace and still know what everything was. There were about 70 items on the audio guide, I think I got through about 40 in five hours. It was really hot, with little shade, so after that I just went around to all the main places and listened to the commentary on those. I was also out of olives and bread and getting kind of bored since it seemed like 95% of Pompeii and 70% of audio guide items were houses. So that made up pretty much all of my single full day in Naples. Although that night I did manage to stop by a pizza place with a wood fired oven and pick up a couple really good authentic pizzas.

The next day my train for Rome left at 6:30PM, so I decided to give Vesuvius another shot. This time I shelled out the 9eu and took the bus up to the area where I was turned around earlier. It was about a 50 minute bus ride if that tells you anything about the hike. I quickly made it up the rest of the way and was then faced with one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen. The inside of this thing was enormous, and you could see all of the layers of rock all the way down. It's what I would imagine staring out at the grand canyon would be like, except this was an active volcano. If you looked closely, you could see heat and gas venting into the crater in a few spots. After about an hour I had to drag myself down to catch the next bus so I wouldn't miss the train. A few hours later it was off to Rome.


Pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2120476&l=6e447&id=38301811
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2121087&l=d9a7d&id=38301811

By the way, thanks so much for all the compliments on the pictures, however it´s really the sites that make them so nice, I just push the button.